July 22 2008, 12:34 pm PT | Posted in: Drugs + Drugs (Cause Hair Loss)
I been reading about the shedding that may happen with Propecia in the beginning of treatment in the blogs and on the Propecia site. If it’s gonna happen, will the shedding be noticeable or I’ll just lose a little more hair a day then I should? Also is it a rare or common thing to shed with Propecia? Right now my thinning ain’t visible to people but I know it’s there I would really be upset if Propecia will make my hair thinner in the beginning.
In the many years in practice and being one of the largest Propecia prescribers (according to Merck) in California, I do not remember one case of shedding reported by my patients. I do believe it does happen because of the large number of people who report it to me on this blog, but I suspect it is far less common than the reports you can find on the Internet seems to suggest it is. As I have not seen it in my patients, I really do not know the answer to your question, but I suspect it may vary all over the place from minimal to substantial.

It may, but I would discuss your concerns with your doctor, as it seems you have other medical conditions that need to be addressed.
This drug flecainide (marketed as Tambocor) has hair loss as a side effect (see
I would trust your doctor to treat your thyroid issues with the dose of medication that he prescribed, but Synthroid (levothyroxine) does list “mild hair loss” as a possible side effect (see
Although it does sound unusual, I can not explain what you experienced with the switch to Avodart (dutasteride). I have no real experience with Avodart and only know what I read. There were clinical trials conducted in Korea for dutasteride to treat hair loss, but I’ve yet to see them published. At this time, Propecia (finasteride) is the best FDA-approved oral drug for slowing or stopping the hair loss process, but if you have the genes for male pattern baldness, you will still eventually bald, although at a slower rate with the medication. If/when Avodart is approved to treat hair loss, I’ll look into revising that statement.